Supersized Images in Website Design

When you’re designing your website, you always have to think about how fast the pages would load on browser. This means dodging, as much as you can, high resolution images or other decorative elements that serve no purpose at all. Of course, you’ll have doubts about these statements when you see an influx of blog sites showcasing supersized background images—and they work. They’re neat, attractive, and they load just fine on your browsers.

The key here is to come up with some sort of balance. If you’re using a supersized image, you need to ask yourself: is it vital? If you’re supersizing it, is it attractive enough to draw more visitors to your website? How does it work with the rest of your design? What does it say about the website itself?

Supersized images work like logos, but instead of a customized symbol, they’re actual photographs of objects or people. Sometimes, they’re cartoon characters, or an “art piece” (read: abstract object) which works just like your company’s logo but isn’t the logo itself. When you use supersized images on your website as a background object, you need to make sure that:

They represent your website/brand/line

They blend well with the overall concept of your website design

They’re eye candies, not eyesores

They’re unique

In other words, you shouldn’t use a supersized image of a butterfly just because they’re pretty if you’re designing an online store for a soda company. Butterflies just aren’t representative enough, unless there’s something in the slogan which suggests anything about butterflies. For an autumn theme of a soda company, however, a retro, sweaty soda bottle in sepia against a cloudy sky would work wonders because the sepia tone invokes a very autumn feel and the retro soda bottle it an object which directly represents the product being sold.

Nicole Brooke | Administrator

Nicole is owner and SEO of Ignition Media. She has been an SEO for 15 years and has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to SEO, content marketing and Social Media exposure. Follow me on Google+View all posts by Nicole Brooke →